On Valentine’s Day, my wife and I saw our first movie in an actual theater since our baby was born. We went with the hype: Slumdog Millionaire. We walked out with the same impression: good, not great. Although it’s always hard to see a movie after 10 Oscar nominations and the praise of virtually every person you know. It’s hard not to walk out a little let down.

But, in keeping with the Oscar season that will finally end on Sunday, one theme from Slumdog continues to leap out at me: the connection between experience and knowledge. Absent formal education, how is it that we come to know anything? As the central character Jamal explains to the authorities how an uneducated, impoverished, very young man could know the answers to a myriad of truly trivial questions that nonetheless make him a millionaire, the film explores the connections we make as human beings between…

Since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the weeks leading up to national elections have become fraught for American Muslims.

2008 is no different.

In 2006, a movie called “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against The West” made the rounds and made American Muslims nervous. “Obsession” was recently distributed to an estimated 28 million people via 70 American newspapers, primarily in states crucial to next month’s presidential election.

In 2006, we reported that “Obsession”,

…was made by Honest Reporting, “a grass - roots movement dedicated to ensuring that Israel receives fair media coverage,” according to its website. Honest Reporting is an arm of Aish HaTorah, an orthodox Jewish education network based in Jerusalem.

Now, the same company is screening its new movie, “The Third Jihad,” in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas and Utah. According to its website, the movie includes interviews with:

Rudy Giuliani, Clinton CIA Director Jim Woolsey, NYC Police Commissioner…